Continuing Marisa X Alice
by Yuuki F
Summary: Marisa and Alice live together. Daily adventures.
1. Preface and TOC

This originally started to pay back Greenerin for the love potion story. I also wanted to experiment by writing a slightly longer, continuing story (along with trying out some other things). Something I could add onto appealed to me, and it's been decently appeasing to make. But, I've been running dry of inspiration, so rather than continually thinking, "Someday I might finish that," I decided to give some closure to this story by adding a concluding arc then going back and cleaning some things up (pretty much organizational). It's been fun writing this novella-ella (novelita?), I hope you all enjoy.

**Set-up Arc**

Chapter 1: Preface and Table of Contents

What you're reading right now.

Chapter 2: Introduction

The set-up, Alice worries over Marisa and asks her to move in with her.

Chapter 3: Moving In

Marisa has quite a few things to bring in…

Chapter 4: Truth Serum

Marisa and Alice dare each other to drink a truth serum. Hilarity ensues.

Chapter 5: Secrets

The two try to disclose their innermost secrets to each other.

Chapter 6: Curing Depression

Remilia asks Marisa to help her out.

Chapter 7: Curing Boredom

Marisa's life begins to catch up with her.

Chapter 8: Curing Love

Marisa tries to hide her secrets yet again.

Chapter 9: In the Case of Marisa

Marisa goes to Reimu to clear things up.

Chapter 10: In the Case of Alice

What happens when you leave Alice alone?

Chapter 11: In The Case of Marisa and Alice

What better way to conclude than to party?

**Short Story Arc**

I have a collection of small one-shots (and a two-shot) that I can't seem to fit anywhere else on their lonesome. That, and they seem to fit well after the conclusion of the previous arc. For this reason I'm committing this act of necromancy. And so, until I figure out what to do a little more fully, have this.

Alternatively, enjoy each chapter as a separate story...

Chapter 12: Bonus Story

A special epilogue.

Chapter 13: Hourai

Apparently, this is a medical drama now?

Chapter 14: Depression

Marisa gets uncharacteristically depressed. I wonder why?

Chapter 15: Hikkikomoris

Alice is a really bad shut-in.

Chapter 16: Chestnut Roots

Alice gets a little deep.


	2. Introduction

Alice had been spending the day mending to her dolls. After about a year, various wear-and-tears on both the fabric and magic begin to develop and need to either be replaced or maintained. To most, this would be a fairly dry way to spend a day, and certainly a last idea on how to spend a day-...Alice looked at the clock...-or, well, a week. But to her, it was much more of an event. During the past year, a swell of ideas had built up, releasing itself into this event. It was a complete revamp of her processes and way of thinking.

Alice paused, looking back at the clock again, _Wait, a week? That black-white has been awfully quiet._

She mulled it over a bit, _the last time that happened coincided with a string of robberies._

She mulled it over a bit more, _...Didn'tshecomeoverdoesshehateme?Ibetshe''-Stop!_

_Stop._

_Calm down._

She took a deep breath and then stood up, _I think I'll go see what she's up to._

People have odd tendencies of the sorts of things they have denial over. A person may have the impression that they are doing something one way, but to any outside observer the subconscious drive of the other individual is in no doubt. It was like that when Alice went to Marisa's place. From Alice's perspective she leisurely walked down the stairs to grab her coat and fly over in a graceful manner. An outsider would've noticed Alice run down the stairs, trip on the fifth step, fall flat on her face, sprint out the door (forgetting her coat), and the near sonic boom-like sound when she catapulted herself to Marisa's.

Once there Alice composed herself (waited until she stopped gasping for air), gently knocked on the door (almost caved in the door), and said, "Are you there Marisa?" ("MARISA, WHERE ARE YOU?")

Marisa opened the door, "Oh, Alice...where's your coat?"

"What are you talking about? I'm wearing one."

There are two kinds of people you can't argue with in conversation: crazy people, and people who can't talk. Marisa replied, "Nice coat."

Alice smiled, "Thanks."

The two stared at each other for a while.

Marisa piped up, "Maybe you need a reminder, ze. About now is where you start to make accusatio-"

"Who did you rob?"

Marisa sighed, "I di-"

"Give it back."

Another pause.

"I've been here the whole week-ze."

"I haven't seen you the whole week."

Another pause.

"Did you want to come inside to visit?"

"Aren't you going to let me in already?"

Marisa turned around to open the door, only succeeding to open it just enough for her to squeeze though. Alice stared at the door, noticing Marisa trying to pull it open. Soon after Alice heard the noise of stuff being thrown around. Each inch gained in moving the door was prefixed by an egregious amount of swearing. Alice stared in confusion at how such a normally productive person could have so much trouble in such a simple task. Well, confusion or horror, she wasn't really sure which.

Alice yelled over to Marisa, "Maybe we should go to my place."

Suddenly the noise stopped and Marisa popped her head out, "Yeah, that's a good idea...just let me get something first."

More noisy throwing, clinking, and rattling sounds emerged. And some more...And some more.

Alice was beginning to lose her patience.

She ran inside to help out, "What in the world are you looking f-" after peeking inside her house she found a colossal trove of junk.

Marisa's head popped out among somewhere in the trash clutching a broom and a jar, "Found it!" She started walking out the door, dragging Alice with her.

"Is that a T-Rex fossil?"

After pushing her out Marisa began locking the door.

"Also, was that just me, or did I see a dodo running around your place?"

Marisa set up her broom with a rope hanging the jar over the side, "Get on ze, let's go to your place."

"And a Phoenix?"

"Come onnnn, let's go."

"Aren't they both extinct?"

Marisa stopped in her tracks.

"You're asking me if I own live animals that are extinct?"

"Well, yes, because I saw...,"

"Animals."

"Yes."

Marisa made a gesture with her hand to the left, "That are alive."

"Yes."

And then a gesture to the right, "But extinct."

"..."

"..."

She patted Alice on the shoulder, "Let's go to my place."

Marisa patted the back of her broom and the two flew off landing shortly thereafter at Alice's place. Alice opened the door for Marisa.

Marisa extended her hand, "May I take your coat?"

Alice patted herself, "Sur-"

She looked at the coat rock, with her coat already on it.

"How did you?"

Marisa smiled and shrugged, leaving the broom outside and carrying the jar with her, and let herself in, "I guess I'm just a really good thief."

Following a routine the two had already set, Marisa sat down at the table while Alice went to prepare some tea, Alice came back with a tray, Marisa tried to trip her, Alice tried to smashed her ankle in and claimed innocence. Routine. There was one time this routine wasn't honored, and Marisa developed a large bruise because of it.

Marisa shook her head, thinking to herself, _Alice really has some denial problems, ze._

Alice came over with some tea, "What are you thinking about?"

"About how you're in denial."

"No I'm not."

"..."

Alice sighed, "Darn it, I haven't been able to get a good comeback on you all day so far."

"All week, ze"

Alice glared, passed out the tea, and corrected herself, "All week."

She sat herself down across from Marisa, and then slapped the table, "Where have you been all week?"

"Waiting for you to come by."

"More likely on a new string of robbery."

"I'm not a thief!"

"Someone's in denial."

"No I'm no-..."

Alice smiled, "Got one."

"It took you a whole week though."

Alice insisted on the previous topic, "No, really, why?"

"Are you really worked up over this?"

"No."

"You're in denial."

"Yes I am."

"Ah-!..." Marisa paused with a pensive glance upwards, "Wait, how does that work?"

"You're _always_ here irritating me nearly every other day trying to keep me from getting something down, stealing something, or trying to scoff off some free food and drink."

Marisa took a sip of tea, "Speaking of which, nice tea."

"Thanks," Alice took a sip as well.

"Wait a minute, you're dodging the question!"

"No I'm not."

"And now you're in denial."

"Yes I am."

"Ah!" Alice paused mid-air about to point her finger at Marisa, "Wait, what?"

"I've been really busy being a positive force in the community," said Marisa with a sarcastic smile.

"That's the first time I've seen a halo made of fire and brimstone."

"Hey, I'm not the one who's from hell."

"Sometimes I wonder."

Marisa sighed, "But no, seriously, I was sick last week."

"Yeah right, who gets sick for a whole week?"

Marisa blinked, "Humans for one."

"Uh-huh, next you're going to be telling me they can die of disease or something."

Marisa paused for a moment, taking another sip.

"No, really, very nice tea."

"Oh come on, that can't be the case."

"I like what you did, is that a trace of bourbon?"

"The idea is ridiculous, how can a creature both be able to control magic and die so easily?"

"Also, is that a slight bit of parsley? Very interesting."

"I mean, I figure the reason a lot of humans die so young is just because their bodies are incredibly fragile," Alice took another sip before continuing, "Also, you have a horrible sense of taste."

"Well, when your daily meal consists of rice," Marisa took another sip pausing for a brief moment, "A large reason human children die is because of disease."

Alice slapped the table, "If it's that serious, why didn't you come here?"

Marisa stared into her tea, she knew where this conversation was headed, and it had happened between the two before, "Fast movement isn't exactly easy when you're sick..."

Alice slapped her hand on the table, "You mean it was so serious you couldn't even talk to me?"

"..."

"You couldn't even ask Eiren?"

"..."

"You could even," Alice sniffed, "ask Reimu..."

"..."

Alice put her head down on the table in her arm, her voice becoming muffled in the process, "I wouldn't have even," Alice sniffed again, "have minded you asking that shut-in librarian."

Marisa grabbed Alice's hand, "Are you crying?"

Alice looked at Marisa, tears visibly running down her face, "No."

Alice put her face back into her arm. The two held that position for quite some time.

Finally Alice calmed down a bit, but she was still hiding her face, "Marisa?"

"Yo!"

"Please live with me."

Marisa paused for a moment, looking down at Alice, "Are you sure you're not going to regret that?"

Alice raised her head, wiped off her face, looked over at Marisa, and clutched her hand with both of hers, "One decision I would regret for your lifetime, the other I would regret for my lifetime."


	3. Moving In

The next day Alice continued with her project, nervously looking out the window. Or looking out her window, nervously continuing her project. There was a fairly equal time spent to both activities really. Eventually the window glaring paid off, and she saw Marisa touch down bringing a fairly large bag that made her broom appear more like a ship at sea than a broom. That or it made Marisa look like a bank-robber, but seeing as how she looked like that to begin with, Alice settled with it making her look like a ship at sea.

Marisa then began tugging the gigantic bag slowly to the door. Threateningly, really. To be honest, it looked like she was having some trouble with it. It occurred to Alice that she might need her help. Unfortunately, this thought was immediately suffixed with the thought that she ought to get back to work, which Alice now pleasantly did so. If there is anything that works as a cure for procrastination, it is procrastinating from yet another task.

The door opened. STOMP STOMP. The door closed. More stomping. A large thud was released somewhere in the living room. Slightly lighter footsteps went to the door, which opened and closed again.

The door opened. STOMP STOMP. The door closed. More stomping. A large thud was released somewhere in the living room. Slightly lighter footsteps went to the door, which opened and closed again.

The door opened. STOMP STOMP. The door closed. More stomping. A large thud...

_Maybe I should check on what's going on..._, thought Alice.

The sounds repeated themselves about five more times.

_But then again, I am almost finished, _Alice grabbed the next doll out of a very, very large pile.

The sounds repeated themselves a few more times.

Marisa shouted upstairs, "Alice, could you help me carry in the last one?"

_Was that Marisa asking me for help? Nah, I must've imagined it._

"Alice?"

_Maybe I should get some sleep?_

"ALICE?"

Marisa started to walk up the stairs. Alice started to pretend to be asleep. When Marisa found her, she was in a position that due to the needles if you were sleeping, would either be very precarious or would make one run for a camera.

"I know you're pretending Alice."

"No I'm not."

"You've been awfully bad at lying lately."

"You've been awfully bad at stealing lately."

Marisa waited patiently for Alice, which seemed to be an altogether unsuccessful strategy.

"The last bag has wine from the Red Mansion."

Alice got up and swung around, "Coming."

The two went downstairs, and heaved what was actually a large wooden barrel towards the kitchen, but gave up somewhere along the dining table.

"Is it alright if we leave it here?"

"Yeah, sure," said Alice, gasping for air.

The two were leaning over the barrel recovering when Alice saw a jar on the table.

"Didn't you bring that jar yesterday?"

Marisa glanced over at the table, "Oh, that thing? Yup. But we should unpack before we talk about that."

Alice turned around and directed her attention to the stacks of books, potions, boxes, sticks, clothes, and other assorted mayhem adorning her living room. Her expression was similar to the gaping awe one might feel when, say, being chased by a bear, or soon after being pushed off of a cliff.

"Isn't your house smaller than mine?"

"Yup."

"How did all of this fit in your place?"

"It didn't."

"I can see that."

The two stared at the mess for a while.

Marisa sat down, "Well, forget about it, it fits in the house, who cares?" She continued, "You were wondering what was in the jar?"

"We can't just leave all that there!"

"Ehhhh~~~~Why not?"

Alice pointed her finger at Marisa, "What if someone visits?"

"..."

"Reimu sometimes..."

"..."

"Visits..."

"..."

Alice brought down her finger and sat down.

Marisa smiled, "Right about now is the time when Alice realizes how lonely she rea-"

"Shut up."

Alice sighed, "How much more stuff is there?"

"I was planning to leave the rest at my place."

"In storage?"

"In storage."

Alice glared at the mound, "Why can't you leave the rest in storage?"

"Hey, a lot of this is useful stuff if used correctly!"

"Really?"

"Really."

Alice walked over to some of the stuff.

"O.k., I guess the books I can understand," and with that, a scurry of dolls began taking them to be shelved.

"What are these?" Alice pointed at a variety of jars.

"Various potions."

Alice glared, "What do they do?"

"Show me one."

Alice picked up a jar.

"Ah, that's an animal repellant."

Another jar.

"That contains an acid that can dissolve anything."

"...How's it staying in the jar?"

"I could never figure that one out."

Another jar.

"That's actually some really old coffee. I guess I should throw it out."

Another jar.

Alice asked, "Why is this one half-empty?"

"Ah, that...that's good for the flu."

Another half-empty jar.

"And this one?"

"Ah...that..." Marisa paused.

"Come on, out with it."

"...It makes you feel...a little...excited, I guess you could say."

"What do y-oh...," Alice looked away, embarrassed. She noted, "It's been half-emptied."

"Yeah..."

_AWKWARD_, Alice gently put away the jar "Well, anyways. The rest of the jars look about the same, what about them?"

"Poison~~"

Alice shot an inquisitive glance at Marisa, "Why would anyone need that much poison?"

"It's useful stuff, ze!"

"You really use it that often?"

"I'd say almost a jar a day!"

Alice mumbled to herself, "There are two kinds of people you can't have a conversation with..."

"What was that?"

"Nothing!" Alice shook her head, "Look, can't you just leave a lot of this stuff at your place and grab it when you need it?"

Marisa sighed and slumped over the table, looking at her treasure.

Alice spotted something in the trash, "Oh~~~what's this?"

She picked up a very small dress, "You still keep the clothes you used to wear when you were a child?"

"No! I just grabbed all my clothes without thinking, I-" Marisa rushed over to take it away.

Alice picked up another pair, "Oh, are these the bloomers you used to wear when you were 6?"

"Stop it~~~," Marisa tried to take it from Alice's deftly avoiding hands.

Alice saw a new target, "Oh, this is cute, little-Marisa shoes!"

"O.k.! O.k.! I'll take some of it back! I'll clean it up!"

Alice smiled at Marisa admitting defeat and turned to go back up the stairs.

"Oh! One more thing, Marisa?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks. Thanks for keeping me company. Thanks for keeping me from going insane. Thanks for moving in with me."

"Alice?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for giving me your heart."

"I never gave it away. You stole it," Alice continued, "But I don't think I'd want anyone else to carry it."

She headed back upstairs to work.


	4. Truth Serum

The next day Alice woke up and got out of bed, trying not to disturb Marisa. She got dressed and made breakfast, after which Marisa came down to greet her.

"Yo!"

Alice smiled, "Morning!"

The two stared out at the sunrise for a while, until Alice remembered the jar on the table.

She picked it up and brought it to Marisa's attention, "What's in it?"

Marisa looked over to the item in Alice's hand and smiled, "I brought it in case you wanted to play truth or dare."

Alice pushed an inquisitive glance in front of Marisa's face, "What's in it?"

Marisa smiled, "Want to play?"

Alice stood up, "Alright. Truth: what's in the jar?"

Marisa replied, "A truth serum. My turn. Dare."

Marisa poured a bit of the liquid into a glass and offered it to Alice, "Drink it."

"That isn't fair, you'll be able to get as many truths as you want from me after I do that."

Marisa poured another glass, "Then I'll take one too."

Alice nodded and the two reached for a glass and drank.

The two simultaneously replied, "That tasted horrible."

Marisa stared at Alice, "Did it work?"

Alice replied, "I WANT TO ASK WHETHER YOU LOVE ME," and then promptly turned away cupping her hands over her mouth, embarrassed.

Marisa laughed, "I guess it does work!"

Alice glanced back, "Answer the question!"

Marisa waved at Alice, "Fine fine, ITOTALLYWANTYOU," and then promptly turned away cupping her hands over her mouth, embarrassed.

Alice laughed and then grinned, "Today will be a fun day."

There was a knock at the door.

There are times in which people, initially thinking something to be a completely terrific idea (what could ever go wrong?), start to realize the myriad of possibilities of failure. The expression upon a person face when this realization takes hold is absolutely priceless. When it holds upon two faces you should get a camera.

Marisa and Alice slowly looked towards the door, and then towards each other with this expression.

Marisa blurted, "I THOUGHT YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE A TOTALLY CREEPY LONER WHO LIVED IN THE FOREST AND PLAYED WITH DOLLS-" deep breath, "SO NO ONE WOULD EVER WANT TO VISIT YOU, ZE!" Soon covering her mouth afterwards.

A voice escaped from the door, "So you ARE there Marisa!"

Alice said, "IT'S PROBABLY THAT IRRITATING RED-WHITE BIT-"

Alice shook her head, "I'll get the door," she turned to look at Marisa, "Look, just don't talk. Don't. Talk. And especially don't say we took any truth serum."

Alice left Marisa at the table and calmly walked over to open the door.

It was Patchouli.

Patchouli nodded, "Hello, I'd like to see Marisa."

Alice nodded, "Hello, I'm afraid that MARISA TOOK YOUR BOOKS AND WE READ THEM. WE THOUGHT WE WERE SAFE BECAUSE YOU'RE A SHUT-IN WHO WOULDN'T DARE LEAVE TO SEE SUNLIGHT ONCE IN HER LIFE." Alice promptly turned around to start banging her head against the door.

Marisa blurted out from the other room, "IT'S FUNNY BECAUSE IT'S TRUE."

Patchouli looked as if she was on the verge of an emotion between crying out of social anxiety or anger out of social anxiety.

Alice swung around to Marisa's location in the house, "WHY DID YOU THINK TAKING THAT TRUTH SERUM WAS A GOOD IDEA?"

There was a slight pause between all three parties.

Patchouli entered the house grinning and faced Alice with her back to the dining room, "What was that?"

Alice, "I SAID WE TOOK A TRUTH SERUM TOGETHER. OH GOD WHY AM I YELLING ALL OF THIS? ARRR-"

Marisa joined in, "-RRRRRRRGH!"

Marisa grabbed the jar, about to smash it, but then an idea popped into her head.

Patchouli smiled, "Well, if you'll just let me take the books I'll be on my way."

In the corner of Alice's eye, she could see Marisa sneaking up on Patchouli.

Alice finally decided that the best move was probably not to say anything at all.

Patchouli continued, "Just tell me where the books are."

Marisa continued to sneak. Alice greeted Patchouli with a blank stare that seemed to say, "It's the giant bag in the living room, plain-as-day, why can't you notice it?" but continued to stay silent.

"Look, Marisa was the one who stole the books, not you, so-"

"ACTUALLY NO, I HELPED HER OUT THIS TIME-MARISA I WANT TO KILL YOU!"

Patchouli was taken aback, both from the comment and from Marisa pulling her back and shoving the serum down her throat.

The three were frozen in this awkward position for quite some time. Slowly, Patchouli leaned forward and away from Marisa, hands clenched around her throat.

Alice asked, "Are you all right?"

"Y-...yes..."

She looked back towards Marisa, "You do know I can't go back to the mansion like this, right?"

Marisa nodded.

When a **large** group of people realize that something terrible has occurred, an altogether different expression takes place. It is an expression similar to a large number of mute people recovering from a hangover. This is what occurred between the three as they stood stuck in that position.

Alice shook her head, _I think I know how it feels to have your in-laws visit_.

Alice went to the table and set up another cup. Gesturing to the cup, Alice said, "Take a seat."

Marisa resumed her seat, and Patchouli sat across from her, "Marisa, how long will the potion last?"

Alice took a seat, giving a dark glare at Marisa while awaiting her answer.

"I HAVE NO IDEA," Marisa began slamming her forehead against the table.

Patchouli and Alice simultaneously lowered their voices at Marisa and in a dark, monotone voice replied, "What."

Marisa continued, resting her forehead on the tabletop, "THAT'S WHY I STOLE YOUR BOOKS."

"You mean to say that answer is in one of the books you stole?"

"YES."

Patchouli sighed, "Then it is a weak spell, we should have nothing to worry about after a few hours time."

There was a sigh of relief all around.

"But Marisa, why can't you just ask to borrow some of my books?"

"BECAUSE I THINK YOU LOOK CUTE WHEN YOU'RE MAD."

Marisa threw her head up in desperation, she could see what question was coming next.

"MARISA, DO YOU LOVE ME?" Patchouli cupped her hands in front of her mouth out of embarrassment.

Alice shot a cold, cold glance at Marisa, expecting a correct answer. Patchouli sent a hauntingly nervous expression that seemed to be on the verge of tears she should answer incorrectly. Marisa looked at Alice, then at Patchouli, then at Alice. And...

She bolted. Running out of the house as fast as she could.

Alice screamed, "AFTER THAT WITCH!"

Marisa flew out of the house mach speed. The other two in hot pursuit.

Alice turned to face her unlikely partner, "WHY DO YOU THINK MARISA WOULD EVER LOVE A HAG LIKE YOU?"

Patchouli shot an angry glance at Alice...and started chasing her. Alice started to run away. Marisa started chasing Patchouli to stop her. Alice started to chase Marisa. Patchouli started to chase Marisa. Alice got angry at this development and started to chase Patchouli. Marisa chased Alice. Then Patchouli chased Alice. Then Alice chased Marisa. Then Marisa chased Patchouli. Patchouli chased Alice...It took a while before they caught on to what was happening. So, Marisa did the most logical thing: try to run away from Aya, who (like any good paparazzi) appeared out of nowhere and soon caught up in order to interrogate Patchouli and Alice.

Aya asked, "What's going on here?"

Patchouli and Alice were in hot pursuit again for Marisa.

"MARISA MADE A-," Patchouli slapped her hand on Alice's mouth,"MMPH MMMMMPH MMPH."

Patchouli removed her hand, "Thanks Patch."

"NO PROBLEM, I WOULDN'T WANT YOU TO TELL AYA THAT MARISA MADE A TRUTH SERUM AND NOW WE'RE CHASING HER TO FIND OUT WHO SHE LOVES."

Aya gave a very large smile, busily writing down what Patchouli said.

Patchouli exclaimed at Alice, infuriated, "WHY DIDN'T YOU COVER ME?"

Alice stared at Patchouli dumbfounded. Imagine if someone you hardly knew plowed their car into your tree, and then sued you for damages.

Aya shook her head, "Quite a friend you are Alice."

Alice gave the same dumbfounded look to Aya, and then shook her head, "Whatever, let's catch this witch."

Patchouli pointed to Aya, "But what about the papar-"

Alice shot a menacing glance to Patchouli, "Don't care," and then promptly shot off.

Patchouli and Aya followed behind.

Patchouli called out to Alice, "Where do you think she went?"

Alice replied, "There's only one place she could go!" And the trio soon landed at Marisa's house warehouse.

Alice pounded on the door, the other two waiting behind, "Open up Marisa!"

Silence.

Aya pushed Alice aside, "Allow me, I'm the pro at this sort of stuff."

Aya pounded on the door, "This is Gensokyo sweepstakes!"

Marisa immediately opened the door, "I KNEW RIGGING THE LOTTERY WOULD PA-" Marisa paused long enough to see everyone and realize her stupidity, "-Oh."

The situation was akin to a dog chasing a car, the dog succeeding in the task, and then asking himself, "Oh, what do I do now?" In a similar vein, Alice and Patchouli just sort of stared at Marisa.

"Uh, well, I suppose I'll be going now," Marisa started to close the door.

Alice and Patchouli forced themselves inside while Aya was busily taking notes, they both exclaimed, "Answer the question!"

Patchouli noted that this was the first time she was in Marisa's place.

She pointed off to the corner, "Is that a Phoenix?"

Alice replied, keeping her gaze fixed on Marisa, "Yes."

"Next to the T-Rex fossil?"

"Yes."

"Why is there a dodo running around?"

Marisa replied, eager for the opportunity to change the subject, "I heard they were rare. Got ripped off."

Patchouli replied, with Alice keeping a solemn cold stare, "How much did you pay?"

"P-a-y?"

Patchouli shook her head, "Nevermind—is that a copy of the Necromicron?"

Marisa shrugged, "Dunno, got it at a flea market."

"It's a very rare book."

"Really?"

"Really. You might want to move it away from those jars of acid." 

"I'll keep it in mind."

"Speaking of which, why do you have so many jars of poison?"

"It's useful stuff, ze!"

"Really? What do yo-"

Alice whipped her head towards Patchouli, "Patch!" She straightened both of her arms to gesture to Marisa before continuing, "Focus!"

The two intently glared at Marisa. Marisa now knew what it felt like to be a rat cornered by a cat.

Marisa looked at Alice, "I…"

She looked over at Patchouli, "I…"

She threw her head up in defeat, "I TOTALLY WANT YOU BOTH."

The duo gave Marisa a look of disbelief.

She looked over at Alice, "But as for the matter of love."

"You, Alice."

Alice turned over to Patchouli. A polite person consoles the loser. It's a sign of good sportsmanship. And so, with the most gracious and consoling face and posture Alice said, "HAHA, I WIN, LOSER."

Alice froze in stolid embarrassment yet again. When was this stupid serum going to expire?

Patchouli hung her head down, and in a soft voice replied, "Just give me back my books so I can go home."

Alice replied, "SURE THING YOU MIS-" Marisa slapped her hand over Alice's mouth, "MMPH MMMMMPH MMPH MPH."

Marisa removed her hand from Alice's mouth, "Thanks."

Marisa nodded, "No problem."

Aya, having gotten her story, left them to their own devices. The rest of the trio migrating back to Alice's house; Patchouli reluctantly so.

When they arrived, Alice retrieved a large brown bag containing Patchouli's book, and handed it back to Patchouli, "Didn't you say you should stay here until the serum expires?"

Patchouli took the bag, "Say 'I'm sorry'."

Alice replied, "I'm sorry for today Patch."

Patchouli replied, "See? Looks like the serum wore off," and left.

Marisa resumed her seat at the table, "Ouch."

Alice swung around, pointing at Marisa, "Hey! You were no help today either!"

"We took that silly drink together!"

Alice walked over to the table and sat down, laying her head against it, "Just shut up."

"Bu"

"Shut. Up."

The two stared out the window for a while.

"Every day is an adventure with you Marisa."

Marisa looked over at Alice.

"And I can understand why the Chinese thought 'May you have an interesting life' was a curse."

"Would you rather it be any other way Alice?"

She shook her head, "Nah."

Marisa beamed, "Then there's this other jar that-"

Alice shot a menacing glance at Marisa.

"That I can save for tomorrow."

" Next week."

Marisa left it at that.


	5. Secrets

Unknown to the people of Gensokyo, soon after Einstein's papers were published, there was a small forgotten of collection of papers that were published soon after his. One of them, however, contained a very interesting theory. Instead of gravity warping space and time, it was boredom. Little particles called 'borons' would fly around causing distortions in time. That the word 'boron' was used for an altogether different phenomenon in science is a matter of the author (the one of the mock papers, not the one writing now...although one wonders...) being a complete crackpot. It is also thought that this is how Sakuya manipulates time and might be the reason for her boring lectures, but that would be an altogether different matter.

As it were, Marisa was evidently trapped in a massive boron field. It started out with her noticing that Alice probably didn't want to leave the house after yesterday, and so the two got up, had breakfast and tea. Didn't quite know what all else to do, and so then resigned to reading some in the library. Had a rousing mid-day tea with a side-dish of 'no conversation'. Read some more. Had lunch. Realized that not enough had occurred yet in the day to warrant further conversation, and so returned back to reading. Throughout the rest of the day, one of the two thought to say something to the other, realized that something needed to happen first to talk about it, noticed this confusing paradox, and promptly forgot about the whole exercise.

So to say, there was such a massive conglomeration of borons that they decided to hold a conference to see if they might not just as well make time flow backwards.

Alice was in much better shape, what with not being that bored with reading and being alone and miserable for days and weeks on end. Marisa, however, succumbed to the pressure and fell asleep. Alice found this interesting for a while, smiled, and watched her for a while before going back to reading.

Suddenly, Marisa shot up from her passive posture, "AHH!"

Surprised, Alice did the same, "AHH!"

Marisa swung around and looked over to Alice, and gave her a consternated look of confusion.

Alice replied, "What is it?"

"I had this horrible nightmare...I spent the whole day inside with nothing to do and getting progressively more and more bored."

"..."

"Oh, it's not a dream."

"Why don't you do what you normally do and go around bothering everyone?"

"Probably the same reason why you don't."

The two looked at each other and simultaneously said, "Aya," and then sighed, remembering the events of yesterday.

Marisa slumped back in her chair, "Arrrrgh!"

She sighed, "Alice, let's do something fun."

"Didn't we do that last night?'

"Hey, I'm trying to keep this from being 'M'."

"...Wait, what? Well, anyways, what do you usually do?"

Marisa closed her eyes, "O.k...I'm in my house, it's a boring day..."

"Uh-huh, go on."

"So I think, 'It's boring here, let's go see Alic-'"

Alice bonked her on the heard, "Except that, you retard!"

Marisa chuckled, "Fine, fine, so Alice isn't home?"

"Right, I'm not here."

"Well, where are you?"

"Look, who cares, I'm not home, figure out something else to do."

"Well, I'd say to myself, 'Huh, Alice isn't here, wonder where she is?' So, I'd force open the door and see if you're insi-"

Alice face-palmed, "I'M NOT THERE."

"Well then, where are you?"

"YOU. DON'T. KNOW. Forget about it, o.k.? I'm not to be found!"

"Alright, alright. Not a trace of Alice. I probably take some food and head off to Rei-"

"Shut the door."

"Huh?"

"You shut the door before you go to Reimu's."

"Well, I normally don't, ze."

Alice walked over and put her face right in front of Marisa, "EXACTLY."

"Oh...O.k., so I shut the door this time."

She backed off, "THANK YOU. CONTINUE."

"Then along the way I'll probably meet Cirno or some other second-rate fairy."

"What do you talk to them about?"

"Talk?"

Alice gave a confused look.

Marisa held up her hakkero.

Alice gave an exasperated look.

"Well, anyways, after a few seconds of that I'll meet Reimu."

"O.k., what do you talk to Reimu about?"

"Talk?"

"You mean you greet her by..."

Marisa held up her hakkero again. Alice sighed in response.

"Either way, if I win, we talk a bit."

"About what?"

"Something along the lines of, 'I'm so hungry, nobody has donated anything in days, wah wah wah.' And then we daydream about various dishes."

"And if you lose?"

"She usually tells me that she's busy, so I have to help her do her job for the rest of the day."

"It seems like whether she wins or loses is based entirely on if she has food."

"Come to think of it...yeah..."

"And if she isn't there?"

"If she isn't there, I'll ask Suika where she is. Suika would usually respond by saying, 'Itsh too early, go away,' even though it's noon."

"And then?"

"Well, if I still have energy, I'll go off to the Scarlet's. I'll probably meet some more fairies-" Marisa held up her hakkero again, "And then I'll run into China, who challenges me-" Marisa held up her hakkero again, "If I'm fast, I'll meet Sakuya, and challenge her-" Marisa held up her hakkero again, "And go straight to the library."

Alice sighed, "I think I see the pattern...and if you're not fast?"

"They'll release Flan."

"And?"

Marisa sighed, holding up her hakkero once more, "It's me using this until midnight."

"At least you're not bored."

Marisa shrugged, "That's true."

"Otherwise?"

"Otherwise, I enter the library."

"And now is where you usually earn you're fame?"

"Something like that."

Marisa went silent.

"What do you do there?"

Marisa looked away, and went back to reading. This didn't exactly help Alice's nerves.

Marisa could feel a small army of dolls creeping in on her, "Answer me Marisa."

"I visit Patchouli."

"And?"

"And then I go back home, oh boy, such a long da-"

"Nuh-uh, back up, what happened with Patchouli?"

"O.k., actually, after Reimu I go back to Alice's place, you're there, the end."

Alice smiled, she liked this game, "Nonono, keep with the story, you're with Patch in the library, what happened?"

Marisa counterattacked, "Wait a minute! Where did you go?"

"That's not important; tell me what happened with P-"

Marisa shook her finger, "You tell me your story and I tell you mine."

Alice closed her eyes, "O.k., so I leave my house..."

"Any reason why you leave?"

Alice paused thoughtfully, "O.k., never mind, you can keep it a secret," and she turned around to read.

Secrets are one of those strange contradictions in nature. A secret, by the very definition of the word, means that they are not to be told. However, there is this strange phenomena, when, upon encountering a secret, which by very definition means the person holding it does not want to give it up, this only increases the veracity at which one wants to hear it.

"W...What? What did you do Alice?"

"N...Nothing."

The two sat in awkward silence.

Marisa piped up, "Am I going to have to get the truth serum again?"

Alice shot a deathly glare at Marisa, "I'd rather beat you to a crisp."

Marisa grinned, "Just kidding, ze."

Alice pondered for a bit more, "O.k., how about this? We each tell our secret to someone else we trust. And if it's of equal gravity, then that person will tell both secrets and we can't help but forgive one another for them. If it isn't, then that person will declare that it must be kept a secret, and we won't know which of our secrets are bigger."

"Who in the world would you trust with something like that?"

"Well, it would have to be someone who is relatively innocent, doesn't know about Aya's newspaper, and has the memory span of a goldfish."

The two paused for a moment thinking of all the people in Gensokyo before simultaneously looking at each other and saying, "Cirno."

Both of them started heading for the door, and right before they were about to exit the house, Marisa stood still, "Wait a minute..."

"What is it?"

"You do realize...that we're going to seek advice and judgment...from Cirno?"

Alice stopped still, sighed, and said, "Well then, what do you suggest?"

"On the count of three, we each tell our secrets. Quid pro quo."

Alice nodded, "O.k..."

Marisa nodded and began to count.

"One."

"Two."

She took a deep breath.

Alice thrust up her hands, "Stop!"

"No! We're doing this!"

"No! We don't have to!"

"I'm doing it; I'm going to say it!"

"Don't do it! Don't you dare!"

"I will! I, for one, can handle it!"

"No, you can't!"

"Yes, I can!"

In an overly dramatic fashion Alice replied, "You can't handle the truth!"

In another dramatic change of scene, Marisa grabbed both of Alice's hands and stared deep into her eyes, "Alice!"

Alice immediately calmed down and the tone of the room instantaneously changed, "Marisa."

"I...I..."

"Marisa, we can do this."

They both closed their eyes, their hands still clenching each other.

It was around then, with no apparent consideration about how embarrassing it would be if the two were caught in a position like this, that the front door opened.

Reimu stumbled in, holding a newspaper, "Hey Alice, is this tru-!"

The pair looked at Reimu like dear caught in headlights.

Reimu saw Marisa, "Oh, so that's why I wasn't able to catch you at your house."

Reimu then saw them holding hands and being in altogether too romantic of a posture, and looked away, "Ah, p-pardon me!"

She slammed the door and left.

The two continued to stare at the door; some events happen rather too quickly and need a fair amount of processing time.

Alice continued to stare dumbfounded at the door.

A strange faculty of human speech is that, sometimes when they are unsure of what to say, they just happen to say what was on top of the queue in their minds.

This happened to Marisa as she blurted, "Three."

The two didn't say anything.

Marisa finally looked over at Alice, "I have an idea."

"Yeah?"

"Let's just forget about swapping secre-"

Alice bonked her on the head, pointing at the door, "That's not the point anymore, Reimu saw us!"

Marisa grinned and said, "You know, it's probably not worthwhile to get all worked up over this, ze," she paused a moment, looking over at a window before continuing, "Alice...it was already kind of obvious. I'm pretty much the only other person seen with you. I hang out at your place all the time. I declared my love for you in front of mad paparazzi, and..."

She looked back at Alice, "I'm sure that no one cares all that much (except maybe Patch). It's Gensokyo, they're used to it."

She finished up with a final shrug and said, "I'm with you, that's how it is."


	6. Curing Depression

The two sat facing each other on yet another round of morning tea. The atmosphere was very...awkward.

Marisa cleared her throat, looking away sheepishly, "Didn't you say you'd take care of some things today?"

Alice shot a return glance at Marisa, "Don't shift the responsibility on me!"

Marisa continued to look away and outside at the window, "Well, after what occurred the yesterday and the day before, you've set us up very nicely to stay isolated as 'those freaks living in the forest.'"

"You're just as responsible! If not more so!"

Marisa paused.

"Actually, come to think of it, the recent events don't change your status all that much."

"I'm telling you that we're in this tog-hey!"

Alice stuck her head on the table, "Well, I guess the bright side is that you're stuck here with me," she looked over gazing longingly at Marisa.

Very longingly.

"Uh, o.k., I get the point."

She continued staring.

"Th-that's kind of creepy now."

She continued staring.

Marisa threw her hands up exasperatingly, "O.k.! I'll talk to Reimu and Patchouli! I'll talk to them already!" And she got up to rush to the door.

Just as she reached the door there was a knock at it.

Marisa immediately went back to the table to sit down, "I don't want to talk to anyone today, you answer it Alice."

Alice tapped her on the head and went to answer the door.

Alice looked out, "Hello?"

Remilia stood underneath a parasol, accompanied by Sakuya, "I understand Marisa lives here nowadays?"

Marisa replied from the other room, "Nope! Wrong house!"

Alice shouted over, "Get over here, you witch!"

Remilia waved Alice aside, coming inside the house, "Just let me talk to her privately."

Alice nodded and waited outside with Sakuya, while Remilia took a seat at the table with Marisa.

Marisa looked over, "So, what brought you here? Tea?"

"Not quite."

"Ah, you need a professional robbery?"

"If I needed a _professional_ one, I wouldn't be here."

"Touché."

"Patchouli has isolated herself recently-"

Marisa gave Remilia a dumbfounded stare.

"More than usual."

"She's been holed up there for centuries at a time."

"It's that bad."

Marisa sighed, "Ah-ze...I don't want to go right now, could you just leave her my number and-"

"You know, Flandre has been mentioning how she wants to see you lately."

Marisa shot Remilia a very concerned glance, "I'LL GO."

She smiled in response, "Good."

Marisa sighed, "For the record, aren't you and Patchouli supposed to be the ones that are close?"

The light posture of Remilia's face immediately vanished as she gritted her teeth and stared at Marisa, "Yes."

A long awkward silence followed.

"Why don't you show me to where she's hiding?"

"Finally a good idea escapes from your mouth."

And with that, Marisa left soon thereafter with Remilia and Sakuya; and in such haste so as to leave Alice without any explanation. She shrugged, welcomed the silence, and went back inside her house.

Upon arriving, Remilia led Marisa to an alcove in the library where a bed had been placed. She then made a small gesture to the bed and promptly left so Marisa and Patchouli would be alone.

"Yo!"

No response, Patchouli stayed listless in the bed.

Marisa adjusted her eyes to the dim light to Patchouli, and then brought her forehead to hers.

Marisa got a reaction, "Wha-?"

Marisa stood back up, "No fever."

Patchouli flipped around with her back facing towards Marisa.

Marisa kneeled over and crawled onto her bed, grabbed Patchouli's shoulder, spun Patchouli to face her, and forced herself on top of her with her hand on Patchouli's chest.

"Marisa, w-what are you doing now? Aren't you and Alice-"

Marisa stared into Patchouli's eyes, and Patchouli returned the glance.

Marisa looked deeper into Patchouli's eyes, "Patchouli..."

"Yes?"

"I..."

"Y-yes?"

"I can't feel your heartbeat."

Patchouli broke out of her trance and blinked, "...What?"

Marisa shuffled the position of her hand, "Are you sure you might not have died?"

Patchouli shoved Marisa off of herself and spun the covers over her head.

"I mean, you do look pale; but you ALWAYS look pale. I guess I'm not that good a doctor, ze."

Silence.

Marisa sighed and laid down beside Patchouli.

After a while Patchouli spoke up, "One of the few times I've left over the past century and I get humiliated."

"Oh, don't worry about that ze, that happens to me every time I leave."

"What were your intentions with me?"

"Hm?"

"Visiting here with me, quarreling with me, borrowing from me, chatting with me, reading with me; why did you do it all?"

"To be friends, to hang out."

Patchouli spun around, "You led me on the entire time, only to be left by her, without even a chance to..." she started to cough.

Marisa shrugged, "If it's about having a chance, then let's go out together."

"To see how it would work?"

Marisa nodded, "Yup, I'll take you with me somewhere tomorrow."

"But what about Alice?"

Marisa shrugged again, "Psh, what'd one day hurt?"

Fast-forward a half-hour later when Marisa returned home.

Alice looked over at Marisa returning, "Hey Marisa, I have to pick up some stuff, let's go shopping tomorrow."

Without thinking Marisa replied, "Sure! Why not?"

Then she paused, slowly tracing back the other promise she made for the same day, and then proceeded to slam her head against the door, _OHGODWHATHAVEIDONE?_


	7. Curing Boredom

The next day Marisa sat at breakfast with an incredibly nervous expression on her face.

"Uh, Marisa?"

Marisa spun around to face Alice, "YESWHATISIT?" Her mind was screaming, _I STILL __HAVEN'T THOUGHT OF WHAT I SHOULD DO._

"Are you alright?"

She shouted in reply, "I'M PERFECTLY FINE!"

Alice paused, noting the nervous twitch, "Your foot is pounding like a jackhammer."

Marisa realized the hole she was pounding in the floorboards, "IT'S A NEW TYPE OF EXERCISE, ZE!"

"Why...are you yelling?"

"I'M NOT," she cleared her throat, "Yelling."

Alice stared dumbfounded at Marisa, whose leg was still pounding like a jackhammer through the floor.

Marisa pointed out into the sky, "Oh look, it's going to rain."

Alice looked outside, "There's...one cloud out there."

"Well, that's what clouds usually do."

"It's not even that big. The rest of the sky is clear and blue."

"Things can change on you."

"Do you...not want to go out today?"

"HAHAHAHA, WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT OF COURSE I DO!" _STUPID STUPID STUPID, THAT WAS MY CHANCE, OH GOD WHAT AM I DOING?_

_O.k., calm down, maybe I can ask Patchouli to see me some other time_, and with that thought Marisa immediately stood up, "Alice, I will meet you at town later."

"Oh? Why don't I just go along with you now?"

"NO, YOU CAN'T."

"…Why not?"

"Well…" _THINK OF SOMETHING, ANYTHING, JUST LIE_, "Remember when Remilia came the other day?"

"Oh yeah, what was that about?"

"That's just it, you see, I can't say."

"I'm guessing this is the same thing that you've been all worked up about since yesterday."

A smile burst out on Marisa's face, _OH THANK GOD, SHE'S BUYING IT, _"YES, THAT'S IT, EXACTLY."

Alice shrugged, "So why not tell me about it already? I'm not going to tell anyone."

The smile immediately disappeared from Marisa's face, "Well, you see, I can't do that…"

Alice became more insistent, "Why not?"

_COME ON LIE-MACHINE, THINK UP SOMETHING_, "It….it's on me."

"What?"

Marisa began making wild gestures, "I made a deal with Remilia (the same deal I can't tell you anything about), that involves carrying something (which I can't tell any more than that), which makes it so I can't tell anything about it."

"So, let me get this straight…"

_ARGH, JUST BUY THE STORY, COME ON!_

"Remilia came here yesterday."

Marisa nodded.

"Made a deal with you, which you can't say anything about."

Marisa nodded.

"Which involves carrying something, but you can't disclose what it is."

Marisa nodded.

"And this thing has remained hidden from me for a whole day."

Marisa nodded.

"And Remilia would be able to tell, because of this object, whether you disclosed what it actually was."

Marisa nodded and added, "Right, all hypothetically speaking, of course."

Alice folded her arms, "Of course."

"Of course."

There was an odd pause between the two.

Alice noted, "Maybe I should go get the truth serum."

"OHGODNO."

"Oh? Why not?"

"Because…Because that truth serum might make me say what the object is."

"The same object you can't tell anything about, is invisible, and notifies Remilia if you've acknowledged its existence."

"Right."

Alice sighed, "Eh, your life is weird enough that something like this might actually be plausible."

_YES! SHE'S BUYING IT!_

"But just one thing…"

_OH JUST DROP IT ALREADY YOU SHUT-IN!_

"Only if the object is on you would it notify Remilia, so afterwards you should be able to tell me what this is all about."

Marisa grimaced, _Oh great, NOW is the day when Alice is a mastermind __sleuth._

"Furthermore, at that time, I can use the truth serum on you."

Marisa shrugged, _Whatever, at least this buys me some time, _"Yeah, sure, ask me then."

Alice stopped, "Wait, really?"

"Yeah, by tomorrow you should be able to ask me."

Alice tried to read Marisa's face, "…O…O.k. then…"

_THANK GOD_, "Now, I'll meet you at town later, alright?"

Alice sighed, "Fine."

_Maybe I should press my luck a little further…_ "Unless you would rather do this tomorrow?"

"No no, today is fine."

_COME. ON. CUT ME __SOME SLACK._ "You know, since I do have this object on me and all-"

Alice shot a sadistic smile at Marisa, "You said yourself that it would be fine just a little earlier, didn't you?"

Marisa was taken back, "…Yeah."

Alice continued, "Well then, I'll see you in town later."

Marisa cleared her throat, "Yeah, sure."

_Alright, I just need to convince Patchouli to go a different time_.

Fast-forward a half-hour later when Marisa went to go see Patchouli.

Patchouli stood beside the entrance with China Meiling, waiting for Marisa, and for once was actually and honestly dressed, "Marisa! Shall we go?"

Meiling waved Patchouli aside for a moment, saddled up beside Marisa and whispered in her ear, "It's rare that she is both this cheery and that her asthma is cleared up," she added, in a more grave tone, "**it would be a shame if she couldn't go today**."

Meiling gave Marisa a facetious smile and walked back beside the gate.

Marisa looked over at Meiling in disbelief, _No. Way._

She looked over at Patchouli; _Can't yo__u cut me some slack?_

Marisa readied her broom, _My life….._

She sighed, turned around, gave Patchouli a smile, and invited her on the back, "Shall we?"

_Is quite an adventure_.


	8. Curing Love

Marisa quietly landed in town with Patchouli.

She helped Patchouli off the broom and looked around suspiciously; _Maybe I can just avoid Alice until I'm done with Patchouli._

Down the street and to the right was Alice, with her back to Marisa.

_Well, so much for that thought_.

Marisa grabbed Patchouli by the shoulder and turned her abruptly to the left, pointed somewhere at random, "HEY LET'S GO OVER THERE!"

Patchouli looked over, "That…is a church," she looked over to face Marisa, "You've been nervous every since we left, what's going on?"

_Come on…cover story, think of a cover story_, "I…"

Marisa took a deep breath, "I'm wanted in this region…" Marisa looked poignantly up into the air, _Actually,__ come to think of it, knowing me, that __might__ be true_.

Patchouli stared at Marisa with a gaping jaw, and then shouted, "THEN WHY DID YOU BRING ME HERE?"

It was loud enough that it drew some looks.

"YOU'RE MORE IDIOTIC THAN THAT NINEBALL!"

Marisa glanced over to her right, and saw Alice was turning around to see what was up, _Crap!_

She grabbed Patchouli, and pushed her into a nearby store, "Not so loud!"

"Marisa! Is that you?"

Marisa looked over, and realized that she should've entered into the store with Patchouli, instead of just shoving her into the store.

She whispered to Patchouli, "I'll deal with this, just hang out for a bit, ze."

She then ran over to Alice, _Why does this keep getting worse? _"Yo! How's it going?"

"I was wondering where you were. Well, shall we?"

"Ah, well…sure."

Alice pointed across the street, "Well, first I have to pick up some cloth from there…"

Marisa immediately noticed that the path crossed directly in front of the store Patchouli was in, "Uhm, maybe we could go the other way?"

Alice gave a questionable look at Marisa, "What? Why?"

"It…well…"

Marisa sighed, _Which story should I use?_

She whispered to Alice in resignation, "I'm wanted in this region."

Alice looked at Marisa bug-eyed, "Oh my…what were you doing giving me that 'Invisible spying box that Remilia gave me'-crap?"

"I was trying to think something up!"

"You idiot! Why would you be nervous about telling me that? I already know you're klepto! I don't care about that!"

Marisa smiled, "Ah, you're great Alice."

"I mean, the fact that you're a klepto is half the reason I wanted you to come with me."

Marisa's smile disappeared, "What?"

Alice grabbed Marisa by the arm, trying to lead her to the store, "Look, I'll give a distraction, and you get the five-finger discount."

Marisa laid her hand on Alice's shoulder, "I see my influence has finally gotten to you."

"Shut up, it got to me a long time ago, now let's go!"

Alice tugged at Marisa, "Wait—ah!"

Alice looked back at Marisa, "What?"

"Well, look, just tell me what you want, and I'll meet you in the next street."

Alice whispered into Marisa's ear, she nodded, and Alice diligently went into the next street.

Marisa breathed a sigh of relief; _Finally, let's see what Patchouli is up to_.

She entered the store she left Patchouli in.

Patchouli walked up to Marisa as she entered and whispered to her, "Did you lose their trail?"

Marisa nodded, "I guess you could say that, for a while at least."

Patchouli breathed a sigh of relief, "That's good."

_Alright, now I have to take care of Al__ice's request with Patchouli, and then drop Patchouli off at some other store…if I can keep this up for just a little while more, I might be able to make it_.

"What now?"

Marisa looked down at Patchouli, "Hm? Oh…want to check out a clothing store?"

Patchouli shrugged.

Marisa smiled, took her by the arm, and dragged her off to the store Alice mentioned. Marisa immediately began searching in earnest for what Alice described, while Patchouli feigned interest. Finally, one piece of cloth in particular stuck out, _Yes, this must be what Alice was looking for._

She looked over at Patchouli, "Anything strike your fancy?"

"Hm? No, not really."

"You look bored."

"Hm? Oh, no, I guess this is alright…"

Marisa grinned, "You want to make it a little more exciting?"

Patchouli shot a glance back at Marisa, "What…"

Marisa slung her arm over Patchouli and whispered in her ear, "Talk to the store owner for a bit, will ya?"

Patchouli blinked and whispered back, "Why?"

Marisa pulled her arm away, "Just try it-ze, it might be fun."

"But what do I say?"

"Worry about that later, just say 'hello', I'm sure things will happen from there."

Patchouli started to chat with the store owner for a bit (with success, surprisingly), and after not too long, Marisa walked next to Patchouli, "Well, shall we go to the next place?"

"Huh? Already?"

"Yes, shall we?"

Patchouli looked about sheepishly, "Ah, well, I guess…"

The two bowed to the store owner and made their leave. A ways away from the shop, Marisa pulled out a piece of cloth from her clothes.

"Marisa! How could y—"

Marisa put her finger on Patchouli's lip, "Sh!"

She whispered, "How could you! Are you really that bad of a klepto?"

Marisa waved it off, "Don't worry about it, don't worry about it."

"Are you kidding me? It's no wonder you're wanted!"

"Oh come on, that was a long time ago."

Marisa walked alongside Patchouli for a while, briskly trying to escape the scene of the crime.

"Maybe I should ask you where you want to visit?"

Patchouli stopped at looked about the town a moment, "I never really thought about it…"

Marisa laughed, "Come on, it's like you'd rather be at the Mansion stuck up in that library right now!"

Patchouli gave Marisa a blank stare.

"Oh, right."

_Darn it! I was hoping I could leave her at some other store and sw__itch places with Alice again or something_.

Marisa looked over Patchouli down the street, and saw what seemed to be Alice again.

_Crap! Not again!_

"Hey Patchouli, you never know! Try looking in this store!"

She unceremoniously shoved Patchouli into another store and ran off to divert who she thought was Alice.

That is, if she hadn't realized that she just shoved Patchouli literally into the real Alice.

Patchouli pushed herself away, "Ah, sorry, I didn't mean to—"She then noticed that she had bumped into Alice. _Crap! I can't let her know I'm out with Marisa right now!_

"Ah, that's alright, I was just," Alice then noticed she was looking at Patchouli, _Ahhh, this is awkward,_ "Patch? What are you doing here?"

"Ah, well, that is…"

_Come on…think of __something!_

"Well, Remilia sent me…"

"Oh? That's unusual, she usually sends Sakuya out, doesn't she?"

"Yes, well, I'm afraid I can't disclose too much…"

Alice lowered her gaze at Patchouli, _Where have I heard this before?_ "Let me guess, she can tell if you've disclosed the 'secret'?"

"Uh-huh."

"And that 'secret' is on your person right now?"

"Uh-huh."

"Just who do you think I am?"

_Dammit! She didn't buy it!_

Before Patchouli had a chance to respond, Marisa ran back inside the shop, _THAT WAS NOT ALICE_, "Come on Patch! We have to g—"

Marisa noticed Patchouli and Alice in the shop together. This compounded with the issue of the cops on Marisa's tail.

Marisa gave an exasperated look, _REALLY? REALLY? THIS IS HAPPENING NOW?_

Alice knew that look all too well, she grabbed Marisa and pushed her under a table, covering the front of the table until a group of police ran past the store.

Marisa got back out and stood up, "Are they gone?"

Alice nodded, "They're gone."

Marisa stood up and laughed, "It turns out I actually **am** wanted in this region!"

Alice and Patchouli glared at Marisa and replied simultaneously, "What do you mean **actually**?"

Marisa face-palmed, _Dammit_.

The duo continued, "And what is **she** doing here?"

Marisa looked over at Alice, "I…"

And then over to Patchouli, "That is…"

Marisa gave a look of defeat, sighed, and then began her tale, "O.k., fine…"

She continued, "Remilia actually came yesterday because she was worried about Patchouli because she had fallen into a depression (no doubt because me and Alice were jerks to her the day before). I went to go talk to Patch, and agreed to go out with her; but because God apparently hates me, Alice decided to leave on the same day to a place where there's a warrant out for me. I tried to make it so you would leave at different times, but failed, and so I've been two-timing both of you for pretty much the entire day….ze."

Alice looked at Marisa with an air of contempt and indignation, "You…you!" She then promptly rushed off.

Marisa looked over towards Patchouli, expecting the worst from her as well.

"Marisa…"

Marisa sighed, "Yeah?"

She coughed, "Thanks for today. I now know there's no way I could be with you."

_Ouch, that's harsh Patch._

She put her hand on Marisa's shoulder, "But that's because…..Exotic potions, double dating, outrunning cops, shoplifting, and outright burglary…is something I would not be able to handle," she caught her breath, "But it looks like Alice can deal with you much better than I can."

"Patchouli…"

"Give me the cloth; I'll make up to her for you."

Patchouli took the cloth and walked outside to find Alice, who had wandered not that far off.

Alice turned around to see Patchouli coming, and pointed in her face, "You! You are the…second to last person I want to see!"

She was on the verge of tears.

Patchouli nodded, "Calm down, I think this just makes us even."

Alice folded her arms, "What do you want?"

Patchouli coughed, "Just listen to me for a moment…"

Alice cocked her head to one side, giving Patchouli an indignant stare.

Patchouli caught her breath, "She did this because I pleaded with her to do so. She never did anything to dishonor you with me, nor do I think she ever intended to. At best, it sounds like she just wanted to make sure I wasn't depressed. However, more than that…I asked her to do this to see what she saw in you, and…"

She caught her breath again before continuing, "And, after seeing you together not only these past couple of days, but as long as I've known you, I realize that…the connection must be even deeper than that. On the one hand, you can deal with all of her odd quirks, you can even pull them to your advantage, and you have the energy to handle her. These are all things I don't think I'd be able to do emotionally or physically. But more importantly…" She paused, holding out the cloth, "the same qualities of hers handle well with you."

Alice unfolded her arms, grabbing the cloth and bringing it to her.

"And even if it isn't exactly what you would call love at times, if I were you I wouldn't want to lose it."

Alice fingered the cloth, "Patch…"

Patchouli turned about and gave her parting words, "So go make up. I'm sorry," and with that she flew off.

Alice found Marisa in the shop where she had left her.

"Alice! I—"

Alice shook her head, and wiped the tears from her eyes, "You owe Patchouli."

She nodded, "Yeah, it looks like it."

Alice stretched her hand out to Marisa, "Let's go home already."


	9. In the Case of Marisa

Marisa got up and got dressed.

"Hey, Alice."

No reaction.

"Alice~~~."

Alice shuffled, but remained unconscious.

Marisa shrugged, figured she wouldn't be out for too long anyways, and afterwards left a note that she went to see Reimu. And when she came upon the Hakurei Shrine, she found the grounds filled with leaves and unkempt, Suika passed out on the lawn, and the front door left wide open.

Marisa touched down on the front lawn, _Huh...well, this is better than it usually is, she must not have much to occupy herself with._

Chen came running from the backyard, and around the house, with Ran playfully running after her.

Marisa smiled and exchanged a wave with Ran, _I see the Yakumo family is in full force today._

Marisa walked over to Suika and prodded her with her foot, "Yo."

Suika mumbled incoherently.

Marisa gave it another go, "Hey, you alive?"

Suika gave a quick answer describing her personal health status, accomplishments of the yesterday, and what she was planning to do, "Mbshixl."

Marisa blinked, "That doesn't really-" She looked down at Suika, whose hangover was causing her to froth at the mouth, "Actually, that does answer my question."

She walked around to the back, seeing if Yukari or Reimu were there. Ran was playing with Chen. Yukari and Reimu were sitting on the porch drinking tea.

Marisa walked up onto the porch, waving at the two, "Yo!"

Yukari was apparently sleeping, Reimu looked up with a very lethargic look on her face, and not moving from her posture replied, "Hey."

She paused for a moment to recognize it was Marisa, "Did you bring a donation?"

Marisa sat down beside her, picking up a spare cup of tea, "Nah."

"No one brings donations anymore."

Marisa pondered on the unkempt nature of the grounds of the shrine, how there were three youkai (one of which was passed out) walking about freely, how there was an oni passed out on the front lawn, and how the front door made it look like the place had been abandoned; and after reflecting on this replied, "Yeah, what a shame."

"Yeah~~~," Reimu lazily took another sip.

There was a long silence. In this kind of atmosphere, Marisa came to forget her purpose in coming. The morning started to drift. Marisa kind of got pulled in by the atmosphere.

Yukari woke up. Stretching out like a cat, only to find Marisa in her way.

"Oh? Since when did you get here?"

Marisa looked over at Reimu, "How long have I been here?"

"How much tea do you have left?"

Marisa looked down, "Half a cup."

Reimu took another small sip, "Then probably an hour."

Yukari sat up and looked over at Marisa, "So, what are you here for?"

"Ah," Marisa turned to Reimu, "Sorry about the other day..."

Reimu waved it off.

"What'd you come to Alice's house about anyways?"

Yukari held up a paper, "We wanted to know how much of Aya's story was truth."

Marisa looked over at the paper.

Reimu replied as she was reading it, "From the looks of things, it doesn't seem like she was making things completely up."

Marisa took and read the article, and, for once, it seemed to be a pretty accurate description of what went on.

She gave the paper back to Yukari, "There are some dramatizations, but that's probably pretty close to what went down."

Yukari replied, "So, you two..."

Marisa nodded, "We live together."

Reimu pointed at the paper, "So, what are you going to do about that?"

Marisa shrugged.

Yukari seemed to gleam, getting annoyingly in front of Marisa's face, "So, it's true then?"

"But you're both-"

Reimu glared at Yukari, "This is Gensokyo."

"But in the outside world, people make such a big deal out o-"

Reimu repeated, "This. Is. Gensokyo."

That seemed to end that conversation, but nonetheless, Yukari gave it another try.

"Come on, I want to hear you say it."

Marisa looked over at Yukari, "Say what?"

"Come on~~~, tell me, explicitly, you and Alice."

Reimu nodded, "I too, would like to hear this."

Flatly and without hesitation Marisa responded with a shrug, "I love Alice, ze."

Yukari stared at Marisa, "Nonono, that's not how you're supposed to do it, get embarrassed and flustered. Do it over again."

Reimu stood up to put away the cups, and put a hand on Marisa, "It's not like we didn't suspect, leave her alone."

Yukari shrugged and retreated into a gap.

Marisa continued to stare out, noticing that Chen had finally tired out Ran, leaving Yukari to play with Chen. She finished her tea and giving it to Reimu.

Reimu asked, "So, what are you going to do for the rest of the day?"

Suika appeared behind them, "Party!" She enthusiastically thrust her bottle into the air.

Reimu opened the door from back porch into the shrine and retorted to Suika, "That's always your answer."

"Am I ever wrong?"

Reimu sighed, "What would be the occasion?"

"Well, havin' overheard ya, I think that's a good cause for celebration," she swung her vase in general acknowledgment of Marisa.

Reimu looked at Suika consternated, "Oh come on, it's not like this changes anything, I mean we all pretty much guessed this anyways. Besides, I'm sure her," she gestured to Marisa, "And Alice wouldn't be into having a party for this sort of thi-"

Marisa immediately grasped Suika's hands, "LET'S DO IT!"

Suika gave a large smile in response, "Alright! I'll go grab the usual crew, you get Alice and come back here!"

Marisa nodded in agreement.

Reimu thrust her hand in opposition, "Hey! Who do you think owns this shr-"

But Suika and Marisa were already nowhere to be seen.

"-ine..." Reimu let her hand drop in exasperation. A long pause held in the air.

Yukari appeared beside Reimu, "Oh what are you worrying about?"

Reimu shrugged, "Yeah, you're right," and went inside, with Chen and Ran following.


	10. In the Case of Alice

Alice found herself at the edge of a cliff of a tall mesa, overlooking a dry, red, and rustic desert. The space was filled with a complete silence. However, slowly, and in the distance she could hear a small mumbling. This slowly escalated into a mess of sounds that sounded similar to an orchestra warming up. Occasionally, she could hear words or phrases, punctuating the blank nature of the mesa's top around her.

She turned around to try to find out what this sound was, and on the other edge of the mesa she saw this haze of colors from whence the sound seemed to be coming from. She strained to see what it was, it was like the haze one would see from a desert trying to show a fake oasis. She walked towards it. More and more it sounded like very distinct words were being spoken in the confusion, and even though they were becoming clearer, it was as if they were in a different language. The colors as well, began to merge into shapes as Alice walked towards them, but she still couldn't make them out.

Suddenly, she noticed the scene, it was Marisa standing next to Reimu. Marisa saw Alice on the mesa top, and began waving her over, "Hey, Alice."

Alice stood frozen.

Marisa waved even more, "Alice~~~."

Suddenly, it was as if Alice had moved, and a wave of black wiped away the scene.

A giant Shanghai doll suddenly appeared in front of her, acting as a judge.

"What does she mean to you?"

Alice did not speak.

The Shanghai doll continued, "Why do you love her?"

Then the Shanghai doll merged itself into the black background, saying as parting words, "Why does she love you?"

In this way, Alice awoke. The sun beamed through.

_It's almost noon._

She turned around to find her bed empty.

_I guess Marisa must've gone downstairs already._

She beckoned for her dolls to come and dress her. Shanghai appeared very fast, and right in front of Alice's face.

She was startled by her own doll, "AH!"

Shanghai backed up, and then proceeded to collect Alice's clothes.

Alice caught her breath.

_Wait, Shanghai..._

She began to piece together the dream she just had.

She looked over at Shanghai, "Why do you want to know?"

Shanghai looked over at Alice, somewhat confused.

Alice waved, "Nevermind."

Eventually, she started to go downstairs, "Marisa!"

Silence.

"Marisa?"

She couldn't find her.

Eventually, she found that Marisa had left a note.

_Went to Reimu's kzebai._

Alice thought back, remembering Marisa was talking to Reimu in her dream, but she could piece none of it together. She shrugged, and went into her study to attempt to read.

This failed after about five minutes.

_Why __**do**__ I love her? What do I see in her? What does she see in me?_

She looked up, finding only silence to greet her. After a bit more of this, she went back to reading. Silence and reading, there was a lot of silence and reading. Eventually, she looked out the window, bored. Then she went back to reading. Eventually, she found something slightly interesting.

Alice spun around in her chair, "Hey Marisa, I-"

She realized the spot where Marisa sat was empty.

She put down the book and began to wander around looking at the empty house. In particular, she recalled a story from the outside world. Something about an old, rich man who was led around by ghosts showing him the world after he had gone. Alice looked in much the same way at her house. The only thing that stirred in the house was herself. The chair where she sat beside her was empty, the table where they talked was empty. The couch where she sometimes dozed off...

It was as if...everything had a meaning peculiar to Alice, but was otherwise empty in its experience unless it was with Marisa. Unless it was in some sense, shared.

Alice soon found herself at the dining table, staring out into the forest in a daze.

_Why do I love her?_

She looked around at her house.

_Because, things would be empty otherwise, wouldn't they?_

She sighed.

_Wait, what is she doing at Reimu's?_

She recollected her dream.

_Those two? Is Marisa really that much of a player?_

She glanced up pondering.

_No, from my experience, Marisa's luck would dictate that I would've known about that by now._

She looked back outside.

_Even so, why were they talking to each other? Could it be, since it was my dream, that I have insecurities about those two?_

She paused, growing even more contemplative.

_That I think __**those**__ two could be together? Well, even so it says nothing about reality..._

She looked over at the note.

_But she __**did**__ go to go see her, and not too soon after the incident with Patchouli the other day. _

Alice began pounding her hands against her head, "ARGH, SHUT UP SHUT UP-"

Marisa entered the house.

"SHUT UP!"

Marisa and Alice glanced at each other.

Marisa blinked, "Whoa, I was only gone for a few hours and you're beating yourself up."

Alice's head fizzled onto the desk in embarrassment, "Shut up."

"I know, you already said that."

"Oh just shut u-" she stopped.

Marisa laughed and took placed her hand on Alice's head, "What's up?"

Alice shot her head up and immediately asked, "Why'd you go see Reimu?"

Marisa was smiling, and looked down to see Alice's quite serious face.

"Whoa, you look troubled, ze. I went to go apologize for the other day."

Alice's tense face immediately soothed, and she placed her head back on her desk, calming down, "Oh, so that's all."

She swung around to face Marisa, "Then, you won't mind if we go there, right?"

Marisa was taken aback, _Huh, I thought I'd have a hard time convincing her, but it turns out things are working out pretty well for me today._

"Yeah! Let's go, ze!"

She grabbed Alice by the arm, pulling her outside.

"Wait, we don't have to, I mean-!"

Marisa shoved her out the door, "Too late!"


	11. In the Case of Marisa and Alice

Suika had returned very quickly with a number of guests: Yuugi who had brought some of the underground youkai, China who had convinced and brought together the people at the Scarlet Devil Mansion, Sanae who brought the rest of the mountain crew, and Yukari managed to easily convince Yuyuko and Youmu.

Fortunately, Youmu and Sakuya had the foresight to bring along food. And with Suika there was plenty of alcohol.

Reimu was worrying about who would clean this up...until Suika gave...forced some alcohol down her throat.

This was the condition among which Marisa and Alice arrived.

Alice looked around, "Marisa, I didn't know you were having a party...maybe I should g-"

"Hey! The guests of honor!" Suika waved.

Marisa waved back, "Hey, we made it!"

Alice grabbed Marisa by the arm, "Whoawhoawhoa, guests of honor? What did you do?"

Suika walked up between and grabbed them by the wrists, pulling them forward, and said "Come on! Let's get you some drinks!"

Marisa shrugged and whispered into Alice's ear, "I came to apologize to Reimu, and it ended up like this."

She whispered back, Suika still dragging the two, "What do you mean, 'Ended up like this?' What is this about?"

Marisa was about to explain to Alice, but was interrupted by Suika giving...forcing alcohol down their throats.

Marisa was not fazed, and whispered to Alice, "Well, I had to tell them, and Suika insisted on celebrating."

"Tell them-?"

"There was no use hiding-ze, that I moved in with you."

Alice stood up, turned around, and looked around at the gathering.

Marisa grabbed her hand, and forced her to take a bow with her. The audience applauded and then went back to general ruckus.

For the next couple of hours, Marisa kept dragging Alice around with her, the latter surprisingly not dying from embarrassment yet, and both slowly getting more and more intoxicated. There were surprisingly lots of well wishes from many parties, even from Patchouli (but especially from Remilia). Soon the two had concluded, and found themselves sitting on the back porch, looking at the party scene sprawled out in front of them.

"Marisa?"

Marisa looked over at Alice, replying wearingly, "Hm?"

"Why do you love me?"

Marisa looked out at the scene.

"Alice?"

"Hm?"

"In what way are a raven and a desk the same?"

Alice looked at Marisa dumbfounded, and then bonked her on the head, "Come on, answer the question!"

"Ow-ze, but I am! Answer mine first, you'll see."

Alice pondered for a moment, the fact that her mind was already pretty hazy did not help.

"I don't know."

Marisa shrugged looking out into the backyard, "No one does, it's a question with no real answer," she took a breath before continuing, "And in some ways, I think, when you ask why you love someone it's much the same. How can a person come to measure the experiences of life and the heart and tell them so succinctly to someone else."

She looked over at Alice, "Well, what else can they say other than 'I love you.'?"

Alice looked over into Marisa's eyes, "Marisa..."

"Yo."

"I love you."

Marisa embraced Alice, "Alice..."

Marisa pushed her head forward, kissed her, and then slowly pulled back, stroking her hair.

"I love you too."


	12. Bonus Story

Marisa slammed the door and walked up straight to Alice, a beaming smile on her face, and her hands in her pockets.

Alice sighed, closing her book, "Who do we have to pay property damages to this time?"

Marisa took out two pieces of candy, "I have brou—hey! I told you that wasn't my fault!"

Alice grinned and shook her head, placing the book on the footstool next to her. She knew that teasing was an art that required a proper mixture of precociousness with timing.

"What'd you bring?"

Marisa regained her composure and produced her advertisement, "I have brought two pieces of magic candy!"

Alice's smile faded and she reached for her book again, "Nope. Not this time."

Marisa held up a piece to Alice tantalizingly, "This one is flavored like chocolate ca—"

Alice immediately snatched it from her hand as Marisa plopped beside her, opening up another piece of candy.

As they unwrapped them, Marisa explained, "I have an identical piece of candy here."

Alice wisely hesitated at popping it into her mouth, "And...what do they do?"

Marisa beamed at Alice, "The magic last for only one day, and they do two things. One is they make you talk like a cat, the other is that—well, it's a surprise; but it's worth it!"

Marisa popped the piece of candy in her mouth, and Alice, worryingly, followed suit.

After sucking on it a bit, she grimaced. "Marisa, these are just normal pieces of can—"

Marisa placed her hands across Alice's mouth, "RA-RAAW!"

Alice ignored her, continuing to speak, her mouth muffled by Marisa's hands, and giving her a bemused look, "They aren't even chocolate flavored."

Marisa took her hands off and gave her a sterner look, "MEOW MEOW RAW!"

Alice blinked, "Did you give me the right one, Maris—"

Marisa rolled her eyes and placed a finger on Alice's mouth and winked.

_Oh_, thought Alice, _Duh, now I get it._

Marisa removed her hand, and Alice smiled and nodded, "Nyan!"

_This really is incredibly silly._

Marisa grabbed Alice by the hand, pulling her off the couch and dragging her to leave the house.

Alice pulled her hand away, "Meowwwwowwwowwwwww!"

Marisa waved her arms, "Meow-ow-wowow!"

Alice rolled her eyes, _Oh, this is ridiculous!_

She humped over her shoulders and gave up, "Look, Marisa, can't you just tell me where we're go—"

Marisa hushed her with her finger and gave her a very stern look, as if to say, _Come on, just play along!_

Alice pulled Marisa's hand away from her mouth, sighed, and rolled her eyes.

And then, in a dreary tone while looking to the ground...she consented, "Meow."

Marisa beamed again and continued to pull Alice along with her, pulling off into the air on Marisa's broomstick.

Alice popped her head over Marisa's shoulder, "Meow-owow, meow-ow (Can't you tell me where we're headed?)"

"Meow-ow! (Reimu's!)"

"...Meow-owow-wowow, meow raaaaawwawaw meow. (...I have no idea what you just said, but I have a feeling you can understand me for some reason.)"

"Meow. (That's because you can be so dense sometimes, Alice. It's kind of why I'm here, and it's especially why I decided to do this today! My personality balances out your denseness. Your well-timed seriousness keeps me from getting into trouble _too_ much. We fill out each others bad spots. After all, before you knew me, you were just stuck in your home, twiddling your life away. It's why I do things like this. I know at times that you can't stand my sporadic nature, and that it often gets you into trouble; but really, I'm doing it because I'm worried about you. I'm worried that you'll get bored with life. I'm worried that you'll stop enjoying the little things like this around you. And, well, I guess you probably won't get all of this message because you're not being cerebral enough and guessing with your emotions what I'm saying instead of foolishly trying to convert meowese into English; but that's o.k., I hope you'll notice one day, and if this works, hopefully by the end of today!)"

"Raawwwwawawawawwwwaw! Raw! RAW! MEOW-OW-WOW-OWOW NYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AARAAAAA-RAAWAWAAAAAA, MEOW OW OW! RAW! RARAWAWWWWWWW MEOW! MEOW RAW MEOW NYAN NYAN MEOWWWW! Meow raw awaw raw awww nyan! Meow aw rawww aw nyan raw? Meow! Ryawawaw myan-raw, raw-awaw MEOW! (SPEAK NORMAL!)"

"... (...)"

Fortunately, Marisa stepped down before she had to continue her absurdity much longer, "Meow! (We're here!)"

Alice stepped off, and Reimu soon came out, "Oi, is that you two? I hope you brought something to eat."

Alice spun around, outstretching her arms to Marisa and giving her an exasperated look that seemed to say, "(You can't possibly expect me to meow in front of Reimu!)"

Marisa smiled, and gave a chastising point of her finger in the air, "Meow. (Come now, Alice, we're going to play this game all the way!)"

Alice spun away from Marisa, folding her arms against her chest, "(I'm not embarrassing myself in front of Reimu like this!)"

Marisa rolled her eyes, pleading with Alice, "Meow-ow-owwww (Come on, it's all in good fun)"

Reimu stood brazenly still with a confused expression on her face. "Oh, I see what's going on."

Marisa and Alice both looked over to the third party of this conversation.

"Gensokyo been captured by another weird event where everyone speaks like cats, and now we have to team up and beat up random youkai until we face some cat-youkai?"

Alice smiled and waved her arms in the negative, "Meowww-owow— (Nono, we're just playing—)"

She then promptly interrupted herself with a face-palm, _Dammit! Why didn't I just speak normal!_

Marisa grinned madly and nodded her head at Reimu, "Nyan! (Untranslatable)"

Alice gave Marisa an exasperated look as Reimu looked back and forth at the two, "You know, as long as it doesn't affect me...maybe this isn't so much a bad thing."

Alice turned her exasperated look over to Reimu and Marisa followed suit as Reimu—with an uncaring posture—entered back into the shrine.

Soon after, a devilish grin crawled over Marisa's face as she pulled out a coin.

Alice blinked, _Marisa. Don't tell me you'd go so far as to donate money just to make Reimu go after a fake event._

But, just then, something caught Alice's eye over the coin.

It...was an arcade token.

Alice grabbed Marisa's arm to stop her, "Meow-owowowwww! (No, come on Marisa! That's right on the borderline between funny and evil!)"

Marisa struggled to pull her arm free, "Meowwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! Rawaywwwwwww (It's just a harmless prank! Besides, she doesn't do anything all day anyways!)"

Alice blinked, _Wait, why am I still speaking like a cat?!_

She sighed and looked up at Marisa, "Look, Mar—"

She placed her finger on Alice's mouth, giving her a stern look. And then, she sighed, stopped struggling, and Alice let her put her coin back in her pocket.

Marisa raised a finger pointedly in Alice's face, "Meow-ow-wow, Nyan raw? (I don't do this, and we keep playing the game, alright?)"

Alice smiled and nodded, "Meow! (Deal!)"

_...wait, how did I understand what she just sai—_

Before she could ponder upon that much longer, Marisa got back up on her broom, motioning Alice over, "Nyan! (Get on!)"

Alice rolled her eyes and got on.

The rest of the day involved—for the most part—embarrassing the heck out of Alice...until...by the end of the day she had actually started to get into it. They even dropped by Patchouli, which left Patchouli angry, concerned, and then just plain confused—and in that order. However, by sun-down, Marisa began tracing the final step in her plan by making their way to a fairly remote location in the mountaintops of Gensokyo. And when she had finally touched down, the air was thin and cold, and they were both plenty tired.

Marisa looked over at Alice, "Nyanyan (Last stop!)"

She hopped off and looked around, "Nyan? (What's with this place?)"

Marisa chuckled, "Meow nyameow (Now you understand me at least.)"

Alice rolled her eyes, "Meow-owow nyaaayaaraaawwaaw meow (You still have to show me the second influence of the candy you know.)"

Marisa pointed up at the sky and winked, where a meteor shower had just started to play in the sky. And for a time, Alice was left enraptured—looking up into the sky.

Marisa stroked Alice's hair, and in response, Alice looked down into her eyes. There was a longing, wistful, yet caring gaze.

It seemed to say...

_The real reason for today—the second effect of the candy if you want—was so you could see what I say every day without being persistent or determined enough to say it. That you understand the things I can't vocalize, or maybe couldn't yet vocalize, or maybe what I meant to say instead of what I mistakenly said. Because I don't want you to think I really would 'say' that I hate you, nor would I want you to miss a single time that I 'say' that...I love you._


	13. Hourai

Marisa was sleeping in on a nice, quiet, peaceful, uneventful Saturday mor-

Alice suddenly started violently shaking Marisa, "MARISA! I, I-*hic*"

Marisa's face was a disgusted mix of a peaceful drowsiness combined with a far too much adrenaline, resulting in speech impediments, "Hmphwah?"

Alice's face was a disgusted mix of contortions, tears, snot, and hair, resulting in speech impediments, "She *hic* I don *hic* but *sniff* WAAAAHAHAHAHAAA!"

She buried her face on Marisa's pajamas.

_Crap,_ thought Marisa, _What the hell did I do now?_

"I...I'm sorry?"

Alice's head shot up, all speech impediments magically fading away, "YOU DID THIS TO HOURAI?!"

Marisa instinctively held her hands up in hostage position, and instinctively replied, "I don't know what you're talking about, I'm not saying anything until my lawyer gets here."

Alice at first continued to give an accusatory look at Marisa before she fell back on her knees on the bed, descending into a cacophonous flurry of tears and caterwauling.

It took a second or two before Marisa pushed aside her thief instincts of self-protection before she embraced Alice. After a while, the time between her intermittent outbursts slowed as Marisa cooed her down.

She looked up into Alice's eyes, "Something happened to Hourai?"

Alice nodded her head.

"Does it involve randomly beating people up until we discover the ancient deity at the root of it all?"

Alice shook her head.

Marisa blinked. **Everything** involved randomly beating people up until they discovered the ancient deity at the root of it all! She was at a loss over what could have possibly happened.

"What happened to Hourai exactly?"

Alice meekly replied, "She's sick."

Marisa wanted to point out-indeed she had tried many, many times before-that that was impossible. Hourai was an inorganic doll. She couldn't have gotten sick unless Alice (the one controlling the dolls) was imitating them as sick.

However, the last time Marisa tried explaining to Alice that her dolls were not actually her children...that resulted in a fairly over-the-top fight she would rather not repeat.

Well, when it's hard to be truthful, be vague.

"Alice, that makes no sense."

She angrily grabbed Marisa, dragging her down the hall to a room with a little bed that held a 'sleeping' Hourai doll. Alice pointed at Hourai with a stern look as if to say, "See for yourself!"

Marisa tip-toed over (why was she tip-toeing? Hourai was a doll! She wouldn't wake up!) and leaned over to look inside the tiny bed. Indeed, there was Hourai with a damp cloth placed over her head. It indeed looked like the scene of something with a fever. She stood back upright. It indeed looked like Hourai was sick. And, by Marisa's logic there were three and ONLY three options:

1-Play 'doctor' with Alice for the course of the day.  
2-This might **actually** be something serious, at which she would either have to ask either Patchouli or Eirin if they heard of such a thing.  
3-Be mercilessly torn apart by a hysterical Alice.

Of course, faking fanciful fantastic farces was Marisa's forte: time for option one.

Marisa looked over at Alice, who, once again, appeared on the verge of hysterics yet again. Marisa refrained from rolling her eyes as she dragged her into the kitchen keeping as serious a look on her face that she could.

Marisa pulled out a seat from the kitchen table, keeping as serious a face she could, while she sat down across from her, holding her hand tightly.

"Alice, I'm afraid it's bergongine tertonorpherosis."

Alice blinked as Marisa continued her explanation. Meanwhile, Marisa had to keep herself from beaming such pride at having made up such a complicated sounding word.

She decided to continue while she was sounding like she knew what she was talking about, "It's a rare thing to happen, but with the number of dolls that you have, Alice, it's completely plausible. After all, it usually occurs during disruption of corpillary vesticular flows, and you did do string re-enchantments recently. I'm afraid I'm not sure what to do."

Alice took her hand out of Marisa's grasp, pointing a finger in the air, "O.k., first, it's bergon tertosis. Secondly..."

Alice was about to protest more. It was obviously something much more minor, Marisa had never believed her about her dolls, and besides, since when did Marisa become such an expert on inanimate fluid flows and corpillary ves-

...

Alice drooped her head in sudden thought. "It made so much sense! The corpillary devastification was a common complication after reanimatronic fusion transfers. True, it was more than a few days ago that she did the routine string re-enchantment procedures, and she was sure that she did them correctly...but...she was in a hurry because Marisa had blown up part of a nearby mountain that day and it was possible that such effects could take up to a week before the machinaphoris lines of the sub-gerontol could've been phased correctly with the **olisersis ***omis*** ** ***** ***** (even the author can't understand what Alice is talking about here, sorry! ~Ed.)"

Alice looked up at Marisa triumphantly, "You're right, it has to be bergon tertosis!"

And then she began to start crying again as she realized the diagnosis she made, "No! It's bergon ter..ter"

And Alice began uncontrollably bawling again.

Marisa was flailing. It seemed like whatever she was doing might have been on the right track, so...

"Ah, uhm, but all we need to do is just...refill the...corpillary..sub-ger-"

Alice interrupted, "Refill the corpillary sub-gerontols?! Hourai can't handle the positronic ******************************************************** (I talked with Marisa, we both have no clue what kind of weird psuedo-magical-medical knowledge Alice is spewing here, sorry! ~Ed. & Marisa)"

Marisa blinked. She was in over her head. Well, when you can't speak the truth, be vague.

"Uhm...why not?"

"Because she'll ******* the ************* benign cat product ********************** transmission fluid ********************************************* Burger King Pizza Hut ****************************************************************** (I tried asking Alice, she went way over my head. ~Ed.)"

"So...can you do...uhm...the other thing?"

"What other thing?"

"You know...that first thing you were talking about."

"The *****************************************? (Even Patchouli has no idea what she's saying. ~Ed. & Patchouli)"

"...Yeah, that one."

"No! I already told you! She ********************************************************** (Sorry, I give up. ~Ed.)"

Marisa put on a serious face and realized that it was time to speak in wildly fanciful generalities and broad platitudes that speech-writers and self-help authors had used throughout the ages, "Well, it's put up or shut up! We may go to the bath, but it is the treading before entering the water which is the hardest task. The mountain breeze on the calmest day can seem like the greatest storm when its time comes; but it is only through our best habits and fortitude that any one person may persevere through the longings of regret in the follies of chance. Lo, that we may tremble before what we may seek and herald to our keep, if not the warmest passings were to give us in our times of need. You may not like the hard options, but we have to weather these times of great misfortune only by taking the greatest risk for the ones we love!"

Alice looked at Marisa blankly, "Are you suggesting to ******************************************?"

Marisa put on her most serious face as she continued her dramatic bluff, "Yes. Yes I am."

Alice wiped away her tears, "Right...you know, I never knew anyone else would be as knowledgeable about this stuff as I am Marisa, I'm impressed."

Marisa shrugged it off, "Well, I've spent so much time with you th-"

Alice planted both hand on top of the kitchen table, "It's going to be a complicated operation, I need you to be my assistant to make sure it goes through smoothly."

Marisa froze as she reiterated the words of a famous U.S. soldier pincered in the Battle of the Bulge, "Nuts."

Within a matter of seconds, Marisa had not only found out that Alice had a room in the basement that looked disturbingly like an ER, but she also had a lot of tools that looked like they could easily kill her in her sleep.

In other words, she was in way over her head.

She pointed at the most complicated object she saw in the room. It had at least three tubes coming out of it along with a ring of lights going about it horizontally and a load of dangerous looking gauges beside some canisters at its foot.

"What's that?"

Alice laughed, "It's a chair. I appreciate the pre-operating humor Marisa, but we should probably get suited up."

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaay over her head.

"Uh...uhm...look, Alice, I'm not sure if I'm qualified to-"

Alice giggled as she picked up something that looked like a foot-long handheld grasshopper, "Oh, Marisa, you'd have to be plenty qualified to even _know_ about ********************."

Marisa continued to try to worm her way out, "Look, I was just playing along and speaking in vague generalities. I really have no idea what I'm talking about."

Alice put down the freakish grasshopper blade and was now inspecting a sawback knife (weren't those things illegal?), "You said yourself 'sub-gerontol', you can't weasel out of this one Marisa. Look, everyone's first procedure is nerve-wracking; but I'm sure you'll do fine!"

Marisa tried to run out of the room, but felt Alice's cold hand stop her, "You know how much Hourai means to me, don't you?"

Marisa gulped.

~One moment, girls are operating~

Marisa breathed a sigh of relief, glad that it was all over. Once she realized that all they were doing was just replacing the enchanted puppeteering strings, the hardest part was just trying to guess Alice's obscure vocabulary.

Marisa took a seat on the couch, only to notice Hourai float by, by now she was clearly fine as usual.

Hourai waved at Marisa.

Marisa smiled and patted her on the head.

"Your mother is completely insane, you know that?"


	14. Depression

As suddenly as her energy welled up in her...it dropped. She looked back at the house, and rather than as an object of her consciousness it became an object from her consciousness. The world dropped out, her list of desires disappeared, and she-

spaced out.

In a phenomena difficult to describe, the broomstick she held in her hand at once lost its function in her teleology. The entire day it had not felt magical. The act of flight was not supernatural. The interaction with others had become superficial. It was as if the world had suddenly become muted with a gray copy of itself. Replicas perfect in every way except in soul.

She looked at her hand, turning it over. It was the same hand. She was the same person with the same qualities and thoughts and emotions...yet...

she felt nothing.

At once she reminisced on a material that would be great enough to reminisce for months at a time in the span of minutes. Great quantities of her past flashing before her eyes to try to pinpoint just any **emotion** at all. Nothing.

When did this happen? Why did this happen?

...what happened?

Upon a moments reflection, Marisa knew at once what was the simple problem. She was...depressed. She could answer the question to the 'what', but not nearly to anything else. Especially not the 'why'. At least at the given moment.

It was weird that she-the titular picture of vivacity-should so surely and uncharacteristically feel this way.

Maybe she was just hungry.

...

The meal...was the worst Marisa had ever had. The water, instead of tasting sparkling and refreshing, tasted like she was licking a steel pipe. It was metallic and likened itself to being slowly injected by a needle. The food...was mush. Everything was mush. Cake tasted like sweet mush, potatoes like starchy mush, fish like omame mush. Mush mush mush. She only pecked once at each item. It was enough. Anything more would be far too revolting.

She ended up twiddling her fork a little. The action become merely that of her fingers 'spacing out', and carried no great significance or amusement.

She wondered about calling out to Alice.

But something felt off about talking to her. It felt like calling forth a social momentum that she felt she did not have. As if...every word that should would utter from her mouth would drain her even further emotionally, and it would drain from a pool that already had no water in it. She could realize the command, but not command the energy to its effort.

Her arm drooped as she got up and...she sat back down. Why wash the dishes? Why anything?

She just sat. Sat and stared..

Maybe she was just really tired. She just needed to read something and go to sleep. But...she really didn't want to waste the food.

She called out to the living room, "Oi, Alice, I made you dinner."

She didn't bother to hear the response.

Maybe she should just read something.

...

She couldn't read. Well, she could, but it felt like the words slide off her brain like grease without holding any attachment. She felt far too awake to fall asleep. Moreover, the inertia to even try anything else had ceded. She curled into a fetus position on the bed, laying listlessly; and at once she felt overcome with a sense of ennui. Her body seemed like it performed actions of a bored marionette.

For hours she laid there like that, losing passage of time through an endless flitting of daydreams.

She could not even fall asleep. What was she doing with her life?

...

"-sa"

"Marisa!"

Marisa suddenly noticed Alice in front of her face and sat up.

Alice rolled her eyes, "Jeez, I thought you fell into catatonia for a moment there. You don't have to get so depressed over me being gone for a few hou-"

Marisa flung herself into an embrace, and in a moment felt the world fall into colors again. In her turn, Alice went silent, and simply hugged her back.

After a few moments of this, Marisa felt recharged once again. She nuzzled against Alice's chest.

"Alice?"

"Yes?"

"Let's go blow something up, ze."

Alice sighed.


	15. Hikkikomoris

"Hey! Alice, let's-"

Alice remained oblivious of Marisa, her dolls at work on various pages across the living room, and herself working on the main story. She was hunched over the desk with the same clothes she was wearing for the past four days.

"Come on, Alice, you've been at this for days~~~."

Marisa began pulling gently at Alice.

To which Alice slowly craned her head, revealing a face pocked with the bags of insomnia, and replying in a fashion more suitable for a zombie, "Oh. Is that so?"

Her face returned back to her work, leaving a mortified Marisa standing beside her.

"A...Alice?"

No response.

People in Gensokyo know, that when Marisa Kirisame has the wits shaken out of her-the same rambunctuous witch that faced down vampires, fusion-powered crows, and even the Gods themselves-that it is truly a horrifying sight.

Marisa sighed, "Alice, come on, you should really go to bed."

"Magician youkai don't need sleep."

"If you don't get sleep, you'll get irritable."

"That's an old wife's tale."

"See you're getting irritable."

"I'm not getting irritable."

Marisa edged her face closer, "You're raising your voice."

Alice knew what Marisa was up to, "I'm...not raising my voice."

Marisa's face was now annoyingly close, "Yes, you are, calm down."

Alice knew what she was up to, but it was still incomprehensibly irritating, "I...am...calm."

Marisa now had her cheek up against Alice's, "You're breaking up your sentences, I can tell you're mad."

Alice stood up at once, "THE ONLY REASON I'M MAD IS BECAUSE YOU KEEP IRRITATING ME TELLING ME HOW I'M IRRITATED!"

Marisa blinked, "...I told you not getting sleep would make you irritable."

Alice's eye began twitching, she lost. And, with a gleeful smile, Marisa took advantage of the opportunity and began dragging Alice to the door outside.

At which point, Alice stopped her, "Waitwaitwait, you're taking me out?"

"Well, yeah! You've been stuck in that room for days and I haven't been able to do anything with you!"

"Weren't you just complaining about how I hadn't slept just a while ago?"

"Oh! So you admit you need to sleep then!"

_GHK!_, Alice shook her head, _I walked right into that one._

Alice flung a dejected arm into the air, "Fine! I'll go to sleep!"

Marisa turned, standing with mouth agape, "What?! Come on! Let's go outside!"

Alice panted, "MAKE UP YOUR MIND!"

Marisa continue standing with her mouth agape.

"Stop...stop giving me that look."

Marisa was giving her a 'I feel so sorry for you'-look, "Alice?"

"What?"

"I think we have to talk," she paused dramatically, "About your hikkokomori lifestyle."

"What?! I went out just a few weeks ago!"

Marisa glared at Alice, "Do you even hear what you're saying?"

"Come on, do you know how long Patchouli has stayed in that mansion?"

"Patchouli miiight not be the best person to compare yourself to here, Alice."

Alice sighed, "Fine, just let me shower and get dressed, and then I'll-"

Marisa started tugging at her blouse.

Alice began struggling with her, "What are you doing?"

"I know you! The last time you said that, it took you a day just to change your clothes, and that was four days ago! And all you did was change your clothes!"

Marisa succeeded in uplifting the back end of her blouse, but Alice was pushing down on the front end, "Alright! I'll change faster, but I can still do this by myse-"

The door opened behind them, "Hey, it's unlocked so I'm coming in, I haven't seen you two in weeks so I was just wonder-"

Reimu saw what appeared to be Marisa stripping Alice in the living room.

The door shut behind them.

The two stood in a frozen silence.

"Didn't something like this happen before?" Alice noted.

"Yes."

There was a long period of silence.

Marisa piped up, "Let's not go out this week."

"O.k.."


	16. Chestnut Roots

It was a lazy, lazy Spring day.

By the time the Sun had filtered itself into Alice's eyes, she had awoken. She was laying on the couch, Marisa asleep atop of her. They had been reading quietly on the couch, when it seemed that something of an innocent afternoon catnap had befallen them, and now it was a little past noon. Should she get up? She wouldn't want to disturb Marisa, sleeping so quietly.

She was reading a book, wasn't she (some French author...Sartre? Was it?)? Just before she had nodded off she was reading something, and she began searching for it. Soon enough she saw it, sitting with a bent spine on the coffee table...

Just out of reach.

Alice sighed and gave up, noticing how easily bored she had become recently. Here she was, just having woken up, and already wanting something to occupy her waking and racing mind. Instead, she took a deep breath, and looked up at the ceiling.

What had she done before? Read, doll work, nothing much had changed now that she thought of it. But what of her temperament before made what was now so much more different? It felt like, before she would often space out-but not quite space out. It was more like a sudden realization of consciousness-or maybe a meta-realization of tha-

She shook her head, she didn't know.

She ended up raising her free arm into the air, pondering anew, "This is a hand. Therefore, at least one external object exists in reality. I am here, pondering about the existence of my hand and being able to take in such experience, and now am able to think about such thoughts, and-"

Her mind began to wander aimlessly, switching from psuedo-philosophical babble to tracing the contours of her hand.

"Ah, I must be bored."

And with that thought, she let her arm rest on the ground. For a few brief seconds she sat in mindless silence and she found herself staring at Marisa's hair.

And then, an overwhelming experience exhumed her as her full attention came to that of the hair. Before, it had existed as an abstract category, but all that had vanished. It now appeared as hair without the referent symbol 'hair' applied to it; that symbol that imposed such a gulf of semantic to syntactic. Before this moment, it was as if the hair had existed as a separate object, that Alice would point to and say "That **is** hair," without really acknowledging it having existed, its 'being' hidden in the categories of intellectualism. Like a tool that upon being asked what it was, one would reply in the absurd, "Nothing but an empty form to which the external things add themselves." The hair impressed itself on her eyes, a kind of dirty blond jumping about the contour's of Marisa's head, like a desert in miniature, the lazy wind of the spring day doing its part to flit about the hair to add to the illusion, something which gave the trompe l'oeil feeling of sand itself.

She realized that now here she was **in amongst it all**, thrown into a wonderland she had not found before.

And from this, the individuality of things themselves had vanished completely. She needed not to turn her head in the slightest to grasp the whole of the other **being** that was with her. She became overwhelmed by this abundance of qualia inherent in the experience of life. No, it was more than that, for she had felt the whole of Marisa **being** there, and not just a body with the attached label 'Marisa'; yet, at the same time, distinctly identifiable from all the rest of the object which had earlier lost their individuality. This one was intertwined to the experience she had in a way that could almost recreate that gulf of class to object that had been about before this revelation. It was, moreover, caught up in a pile of emotion that seemed as if it plummeted the two of their existences deeper than what really could be, and, in a matter of instinct curled her arms around to hold Marisa very, very tightly.

Marisa moaned as she awoke, "Alice?"

She didn't reply, by now her hands had crawled to Marisa's head, and she filtered her blonde hair in-between her fingers.

"You've been reading that existentialist gunk again, haven't you?"

Alice tilted her forehead down to breathe in deeply Marisa's scent.

Marisa gave an irritated sigh in reply.

It was still a lazy, lazy Spring day.


End file.
